What to say when she suggests meeting once you're both free next week

The phrase on its own tells you very little. Look at what came before it. If she has been asking follow-up questions, sharing specifics about her week, and bringing up things you said earlier, she's probably just a loose planner and the vagueness is about her calendar. If the messages have been getting shorter, if she takes a day to reply and answers in one line, or if this is the first time she has mentioned meeting at all, treat the suggestion as an opening she is holding loosely. Neither reading is a verdict on how she feels about you. But it should change how hard you push for specifics. With a warm thread, a light question about days is enough. With a cooler one, make the next step easy to accept and easy to decline, so she can say yes without getting dragged into a long conversation about scheduling.

The fastest way to turn a vague plan into a real one is to name a day or a rough window and let her correct it if it doesn't work. Suggest Thursday or Friday evening, or a weekend afternoon, and you've given her something concrete to react to. You're not asking her to design the plan from scratch. One specific option reads as confidence. A list of options reads as a survey, and surveys get put off. Keep the place simple too. A café or bar you can both reach easily is enough, and you can sort out the details after she says yes. The point of the reply is to move the conversation from "someday next week" to "this day, probably," and to make it clear you want it to happen.

Once you've replied, the real test is what happens over the next few days. If she comes back with a day, a place, or even a question about the plan, you're on track and the next message can be light and easy. If she goes quiet or keeps repeating the vague version, the plan probably won't form on its own, and a second nudge is usually a mistake. Wait a full day before following up, and when you do, keep it short and tied to something specific, like the day you already mentioned. If two attempts at a concrete plan get the same vagueness back, stop pushing for the meeting. Either let the thread end or ask her directly and once whether she wants to get a drink. A clear yes or a clear no is more useful than another week of maybes.